Dow Chemicals scientific analysis of UFO debris

One of the most famous and puzzling incidents in UFO history is the 1957 Ubatuba, Brazil case, in which debris said to have been retreived after the
explosion of a UFO was determined to be magnesium metal of unusual composition.

But there is another, surprisingly similar incident that occurred in the US at the dawn of the modern UFO phenomenon.

This incident directly or indirectly involved a host of people and organizations that were later to have a major impact on the study of UFOs in the
United States, and points out that there is still much to be learned concerning the early investigation of the phenomenon by the military, the
intelligence community and even, perhaps, by the corporate world.

According to Dow documents preserved in the file, the event began just after 5:00 on the afternoon of July 9, 1947, as a forty-five year old
electrician named Raymond Lane and his wife were picking huckleberries near Midland, Michigan. A strange sizzling noise abruptly drew their attention
to a bizarre mass of bright white, fiery sparks hovering about a foot above the ground and about a hundred feet away.

It reminded them of a Fourth of July sparkler, but it was much bigger -- the size, as they later put it, of a bushel basket. The fireball burned
brilliantly for about fifteen seconds before dying out.

When the smoke drifted away, there was nothing left except some hot, light-and-dark-colored metallic-looking debris on the sandy soil. Lane collected
fragments of the material in a tin can and considered whom to tell.

The mysterious fireball had appeared in a uniquely appropriate place. Midland happened to be the home of one of America's most well-equipped
materials analysis facilities: the laboratories of Dow Chemical company, well known for its metallurgical expertise and a world leader in magnesium
technology.

Shortly after World War I, Dow metallurgists had developed an alloy that the company called "Dowmetal" -- refined magnesium to which was added about
six percent aluminum and one-half percent manganese.

Dowmetal was widely promoted for automotive and aviation uses and was highly profitable for the company, eventually giving it a virtual monopoly on
magnesium production in the US. In 1933 the company was approached by Belgian scientist Jean Piccard with a request to design and build a Dowmetal
cabin for a record-setting high-altitude balloon flight. The design was highly successful and eventually enabled flights to over 70,000 feet.

There is no doubt that a large part of dows success in the early years was due to magnesium.

During World War II Dow's extremely lightweight, strong magnesium alloys became an indispensable ingredient of aircraft and missile structures.

The company also became a contractor for an unusual flight test program that had a direct link to Project SIGN, the Air Force's 1948 UFO research
establishment.

One of the most significant figures behind Dow's success was a chemist named John Josef Grebe [pronounced "gree-bee"].

Born Hans Josef Grebe in Uerzig, Germany in 1900, he emigrated to Ohio in 1914 and became a US citizen in 1921. Grebe graduated from the Case School
of Applied Science in 1924 and was immediately hired by Dow.

Considered a genius by his colleagues and known as the "Idea Man," Grebe was given free rein to work on projects of his own devising. He established
the company's Physical Research Laboratory, an organization that produced a steady stream of valuable inventions, particularly in the field of
plastics.

Chemists under his direction were responsible for the discovery of several now-universally used plastics, such as styrene, Styrofoam, and polyvinyl
chloride, and also developed a synthetic rubber that was vital to the US military in World War II.

A portion of Dow's analysis of the July 9, 1947 'flying saucer debris' from Project Blue Book case file

Grebe even perfected a method of extracting magnesium from sea water, a process that became Dow's main source of the metal.

After Japan's surrender Grebe was assigned to work with the Oak Ridge nuclear laboratory, and in 1946 he was an observer at the Operation Crossroads
nuclear tests.

He also worked closely with the US Army's Chemical Corps on the highly classified toxicological and radiological warfare programs (in fact, by 1948,
Grebe would be named the Chemical Corps' chief technical advisor).

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